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wart

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Everything posted by wart

  1. Excalibur The legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical power. AKA, the sword in the stone... if you can wield it you are the once and future king.
  2. @skibug, only if you are a man who skis without a hat.
  3. @escmanaze, I’m going to take your comments as accurate. So.... I just realized that for the last 35+ years I have NOT been a Correct Craft customer... as I’ve purchased my Nautiques used. Actually, I have been a customer of “rich guys.” Therefore, hey, “rich guys,” make better choices in your new boat purchases... seems like half of those who comment here are counting on you.
  4. 28 off, cool, puts you the, hmmm, top 10% (?) of those try the slalom course, in a dry suit no less. All the advice, above, is correct. But wow that’s a lot to remember. I’ll suggest @jakecuz23 is on the right track. At your point in development, a rock solid, stacked position, directly behind the boat is the most important fundamental to lock into your skiing. This will improve your width, make you early to the ball, everything will feel easier... by trying harder. So, how to do this? Everyone can probably come up with suggestions that have worked of them. Here’s some that have worked for me... Video (you already have this covered) When working on your stacked position, don’t chase balls, turn when it feels right. (Oh, and 6 stacks and turns missing balls, is better than making 3, when practicing.) At 28 off (or maybe 22 off if it feels safer), how far outside the buoy-line can you get? (2’, 4’?) How to feel stacked? Dry land, tie the handle to something, and practice. Repeat (directly) behind the boat (carefully).
  5. Please re-educate me, what is the hull difference between 97-01 and 02-09 Ski Nautique? (Slalom at 30, 32, 34 mph) Thanks.
  6. A few more thoughts. Sounds like you might be in the SLC valley... then check out the lake a Daybreak. I’ve heard it doesn’t hold water and has increased POA dues significantly. All the math you are doing seems right on. With respect to the community boat... I’m going to so not PC here... a family that buys a $150,000 wakeboard boat in Utah (“the second driest state”) might be lacking in the math skills you need them to have to see your common sense. As you have read in other posts, the country side is littered with failed / marginally successful ski communities. Your homework, thoughtfulness, due diligence, are all steps in the right direction. And I bet marketing will be everything.
  7. As BraceMaker noted, you have designed two tournament quality (3-event) quality ski lakes. If a 3-event ski family found your development, they would immediately recognize the lakes. At the same time, I suspect a family that enjoys the water sports you noted would not see the lakes as desirable. That is, a big boat needs a big lake. I used to live in a water ski community much like your design. Wake sport families did not buy. Instead families looking for a peaceful water setting and/or fishing moved in. Then their first objective was to change the C&R to end the use of power boats. This was in the Midwest. Maybe, Utah families will have a different perspective. Seems like marketing will be everything. Oh, and I think there was a community recently developed in Texas... maybe near Woodlands? That had a goal similar to yours.
  8. @klindy more Camelot fun facts. Going north to south, slalom skiers went around both turn islands, a scenic journey. The 55’s were only a few feet past the second island, so if you liked to pull out early... you would follow the shoreline about 15 feet from the water’s edge (no long line). Then there was a point sticking out about 20 feet past the gates; at 15off it seemed like you were going to hit land before turning in. Camelot is a former gravel pit, the water level varies up to five feet in a during the season. When the islands were too shallow, we had an 8-ball course running to opposite corners from the 6-ball. Therefore, cables crossed. Underwater, there were come-a-longs at the anchors... tighten and loosen to float and submerge as needed. And for winter fun, the cliff opposite Smith’s house was at least 100 feet high. Maybe, during a significant snow storm, someone skied that double black diamond.
  9. Here's two. First Spring. Time to float the course. Dry-suits on. Me and my buddy got in the kayak. There were lots of weeds, so we needed to pull the cable off the bottom first. He said "drop me off at the south anchor; then you paddle down and start at the other end... we'll meet in the middle." I ended up with the hook to find the cable. About half down, I looked back to see how he was doing. All I see are two feet sticking out of the water, kicking franticly with the bottom third of his dry-suit full of air. He had tried to dive down to grab the cable. Well, this was an actual Darwin moment. Could he right himself as I couldn't paddle back in time. Some how, he got his head above water. When I got to him the look of terror on his face... well, I remember it to this day. Second Spring again. Another buddy wanted to ski over lunch hour. So, I met him at his dock. We ski. I went first. He went second. His house is right behind the turn island. So, he said, "when I'm done... I'll just drop at my dock... I've got to get right back to work." OK. He waves as he let's go and skis up to his dock. Perfect. Except one thing, he has his dry-suit on, and no one is home. No way to unzip it. Turns out, if you can get the zipper strap caught on the door knob, you can turn just right to unzip. The keyword here being door knob... as there are two in this story.
  10. So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a slalom coach at a course over a the base of the Himalayas. A slalom coach, you know, a short-line expert, a coach, a Horton. So, I tell them I’m a pro coach, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald… striking. So, I’m on the start dock with him. I give him my Denali. He hauls off and runs 38-off – big puller, the Lama – strong, crazy counter, preturns like Nate, right into 39-off. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the set and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.” So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.
  11. Xpropman notes that 1 out of 18 wants to go 32mph. (Just a thought - isn’t the customer always right?) The reason to go 32mph is to align with the World. But how many in AWSA, at that age, ski in the World, as opposed only the USA? Maybe the 1 above? Help me out here, why was the speed increased? Anyway, I think this takes us to what Icarnes wrote... that is pushing skiers away. Oh, and click Icarnes “this piece.” Very well written for both the skier and those skiing with. On the hopeful side of “those skiing with”... Before I skied in tournaments, when I was M2 age, and learning the course, I skied at 34mph, and got endless grief, even when I would say M3 will be soon enough and I’ll be ready. Now I’m skiing 32mph way before I get to the age group, and no one has said anything other than, did you just make that pass!? So, there’s some “those skiing with” progress.
  12. Justin C maybe don’t “whip them good,” but turn gently off the centerline of the course about 30 degrees (+/-) as shore allows, bring the boat to idle and let the skier resist to advance along side the boat. Also, when starting, if you accelerate straight on the centerline of the course, you will send bow rollers down the course. So, if you have room, starting with the boat at about a 30 degree angle off the CL, sends the bow rollers towards shore. You only need to advance the boat maybe 20-30 feet before slowly turning to CL to keep the water calm in the course.
  13. So, if -38 is shortline; then way back when Connelly made the Shortline ski... only about 10 skiers could ski it.
  14. @dnewton you are way ahead of the learning curve with your progress in just two years. @killer and Fam man have given you some key advice. Especially with respect to body position. So, how do you work on body position? Here are some ideas. 1 Improving your stance behind the boat is more important than anything else. So, don’t worry about the gates... you’ll have your whole ski career to figure out the gates... and that’s about how long it will take. Therefore, continue to use your pullout keys, then once you’re out there turn for 1-ball when everything feels right. Don’t worry about going through the gates. Most important, right now, is to get as many repeats of good body position as possible. Worrying about the gates can ruin working on body position for the next six pulls. Heck, I would even skip a turn ball from time to time, just to make sure I could get into a perfect pull position. In other words, it not always about chasing buoys. 2 since you are leaning back sometimes, since you have most of your weight your back foot sometimes... from the moment you get up on the water, 95% of your weight goes on your front foot. Now once in the course, you won’t be able to maintain 95%, but trying to will help get you more evenly balanced on both feet. Now, the warning that goes with this is be aware of your balance... we don’t want you to go flying out the front. 3 Don’t worry about turns right now. Just reach, turn, and get into your stacked position. 4 I hear you about liking -28 more than -22 and -15. But at the longer rope lengths you have more time in each wake crossing to work on position. One sure way to force yourself to stack better is to ski -15 and -22 12 to 8 feet outside the turn balls. That is don’t ski to the ball, ski out and around the ball. The only way to do this is to improve your position crossing the wake. 5 The ski thought... hips up to the handle seems to work well when trying to learn the stacked position. Notice the theme? If you develop and ingrain your stacked position now, you will go along way up the line. I’ve watched a few skiers over years get stuck at -32 and -35 because they never built the most important building block of skiing... that is their position directly behind the boat.
  15. Thanks for the insight everyone.
  16. I’m considering purchasing a Goode Power Vest. One question for those with experience. The question is about getting up on the water. With a regular vest on I think most of us, either with two feet in or one foot out, start with our front knee as close to our chest as possible, with our arms straight, and the handle near the ski in front of the front binding. As the boat goes, we keep our weight on the front of the ski and plane as quickly/easily as possible. This start position, arms out, weight forward, seems the opposite of what the Power Vest is designed for. That is during acceleration, ball to ball, arms pinned to the Vest, with the pull going through the hands, arms, and around the shoulders. So, here’s the question. When getting up on the water with a Power Vest, is it just like with a regular vest? I’m asking because it seems like the straps would pull the Vest up, like the Vest was going to pull over your head... like when you take off a shirt. If this is true, then do you lean back on the Vest and let the Vest do the work? If yes, it seems like this would put a lot of stress on your knee because you would have to push the ski out in front of you and plow a lot more water until the ski planed up? FWIW, I’m considering the Power Vest to take stress off my body in the course. But I don’t what to trade off with added stress getting on the water. Thanks for your wisdom.
  17. Without Hobbs & friends, F1 is dead in the USA. Long live F1. And it may take “large attachments” to say that. +1 Alonso.
  18. @skibug to add to water is softer than snow. On hard snow (groomed runs), basically the stiffer the boot the better the control. However, I’ve learned that on powder days, a softer, especially forward flexing, boot is better for control. To the point where I change the boot tongue to control flex. Water is probably in between hard snow and powder. Hence, it seems like water skiers are looking for stiff/tight boot around the foot and flexibility of the ankle. Oh, and observing both snow and water skiers, a fundamental flaw both have is not enough forward flex of the ankles resulting in their COM not enough forward. And I would suggest that neither snow or water ski boots are designed with enough forward ankle / COM forward. Why? Because COM forward is scary.
  19. First, nice skiing. I bet you are already in the 20% of skiers who slalom. @toddl has given you the fundamental body position to work on... drive hips towards 11:00 (or up towards the handle; can you make them touch?). Now let's add ski path. At 15-off you want to work towards skiing out pass the bouy line and then turn back towards the ball (where the new cutting edge of the ski almost clips down course side of the ball). Can you get 5 feet outside the bouy line? Then how about 10 feet? Or a crazy 15 feet? Two points here. One, don't ski to the ball... ski to go out and around. Two, this new path will be easier to ski (than ski to the ball and turn). However, without mastering @toddl's fundamental you can't achieve this ski path. (Well, at least not in control.) Or, the goal of skiing wider will make you focus more on your position behind the boat. Oh, and work on this ski path at slower speeds too. That is, generally, when skiers begin to run the course... those that are always working on wide and early progress quicker than those who just make it around the ball and then speed the boat up or shorten the rope.
  20. "there is no personal benefit" for non-tournament skiers to become tournament skiers. That, in a nutshell, is the reason things will not change. Let's consider other sports that have greater adult participation in organized competition than water skiing. Softball, hockey, and basketball come to mind. And maybe these sports have more individuals participating in an organized way than non-organized. (Skiing tournaments vs non-tournament for comparison.) What do these organized activities offer participants that organized water skiing does not? I'll start the list - these examples are team sports. What else? Here's another list. Golf, running, biking, and tennis. Same question - what do these organized activities offer participants that organized water skiing does not? I'll start the list - these examples are individual sports. What else? For me, the reason I no longer ski in tournaments is... give me the sign up list for any tournament and, before the event, I can tell you +/- one or two positions where everyone will finish (not counting falling on the first pass or missing gates). Therefore, I'm with @skibug... I can assess my progress on my own; I don't need a list on the internet for this. On the other hand, I'll still sign up for team leagues in other sports because at every event the team has a chance. (That is, the outcomes of competition are different for all the different skill levels.) Oh, and I'll continue to participate in golf events because handicaps give everyone a chance. This is why events like Horton's are important. He is trying to address the personal benefit question. If the rest of the tournament scene really wants more participation; the same needs to happen. And unfortunately, if tournaments do change... I suspect it's going to take a lot more trying, than the tournament regulars want to spend time on, to convince me and maybe @skibug to change our ways. Hmmm, this nutshell is a very hard one to crack.
  21. Horton - "will prove to be too much for some skiers but magical for skiers with the right skill set" Wish - "right skill set" but rather the "right mindset" So, what is the definition of "skill set?" A couple of ideas. Skill in setting up a ski (binding & fin) (specifically a Denali). For every ski I've owned since fins became adjustable, I've made one... maybe three adjustments over the typical two to three seasons on a ski. (I've heard that this is what Nate does, so I must be justified.) I've found that Denali requires much more tuning and correspondingly is more sensitive to adjustments. Oh, and the Adams are there to help with setup every step-of-the-way. Skill in COM forward. First, you need to know that COM is... Center Of Mass. Remember, not everyone knows every abbreviation and acronym used on BOS (oops Ball Of Spray). Heck, I'm not even sure that COM and BOS are acronyms? Second, skiing with your COM forward is a difficult skill, a mindset, and maybe a fear to get over. Especially, on a Denali... that appears to have no tip rise. Don't worry it has enough. Third, I suspect not many of us really know what COM forward is or looks like. I pretend to know, but honestly I really don't know - at least per the Adams' GUT (Grand Unified Theory). Developing these two skills can take a lot of time and energy. Skies cost a lot of money. Therefore, perfecting these two skills might prove to be too much for some skiers but magical for others. (Hmm, is sounding like Horton a good thing?)
  22. Warning this public slalom course info comes from along time ago. Therefore, the sites might (probably) not still exist but... Lake Templane in Centreville Boardman Lake just south of Traverse City There is a river (perhaps the Albion River?), just south of Albion. (This is/was one of the best tournament sites in MI. There was something in the water that resulted in great slalom scores and probably some three-eyed fish.)
  23. Wish is correct and correct that @jayski and @gregy said it best. Also, I think beginners are more likely to fall heading to and through the wakes. As we improve, falls tend move back to the turn. Oh, and reason for most falls can be traced back to something you did incorrectly two or three moves ago. That all said, don't fall. He who throws the handle today, lives to ski another day. And how about this? When you make a mistake, ease up, skip a buoy, or two, and try to get back in the game. This will give you the opportunity to learn how to recover and how patience can payoff in the course, especially at longer line lengths. I ski at a lake with really good skiers. They fall / throw the handle all the time. They spend more time in the water, than on top of the water. This seems very unproductive. Even at short line lengths, I'll skip buoys, even the gates, just to get more time on the water learning how to handle the handle, the wind, etc. In other words, you learn more on the water than in it.
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